Heritage

Catering to the tastes of tech-savvy millennials

milenial

Dubbed Radisson Red, the brand promises to shatter all traditional expectations of what fancy hotels should be. PHOTO | FILE

Millennials have been largely under served by the hospitality industry. This is majorly because the generation sprung up as an independent lot with disruptive ideas and preferences, something that caught most, if not all, traditional industries off-guard.

This generation has unique ways of earning a livelihood, including high-paying jobs that do not require them to leave their beds, and also tends to appreciate music, fashion and art more than older generations.  

As such, facilities that traditionally earned their staple from the opulent class are now struggling to adapt to the desires of the modern wealthy group, which comprises underdressed millionaires, who consider T-shirt and jeans as appropriate meeting wear.

But it is not all facilities that are shocked by the turn of events. The Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, which owns the Radisson Hotels, has been adapting to the changes in market needs, something that has left them a market leader for more than a century.

And now, to cater for the needs of the tech-savvy, nerdy art lover and fashion watcher, the group is venturing into the millennial market with a product that is bound to drive their growth further.

Dubbed Radisson Red, the brand promises to shatter all traditional expectations of what fancy hotels should be.

“It is aimed at the individuals that are young at heart, very modern and minimalistic,” Andrew McLachlan, senior vice president, business development, Africa and Asia, said.

Solutions provider

A 2016 report by Amadeus, an IT solutions provider for the travel and hospitality industry, noted that millennials, as hotel guests, are “more tech savvy, always connected, and more informed than ever before, with access to online reviews and social media.

Accordingly, these guests expect a much higher level of recognition, transparency and, most importantly, a higher level of personalisation”. 

“It is all about music, art and fashion, quite tech savvy ; there is no reception desk, when you walk in, you get into an art gallery.

It is all about meeting and drinking - it is not really a destination restaurant, it has DJs on roof top bars, concrete screed flooring and no napkins,”  said McLachlan, explaining the plans they have for the Red brand.

To further resonate with its target market, even the naming of the bars, eateries and floor wings in Radisson Red hotels has embraced modern trends.

The hotels, for instance feature a restaurant called OUIBar + KTCHN, which previously would have been considered an unacceptable name for a fancy restaurant.

And, like any modern and trendy inception, Radisson Red also has an app.

“The app makes it possible for you to check in online before you arrive at the hotel, and when you get there, depending on the model of phone, it becomes the key you need to access floors and go through doors,” said McLachlan.

Radisson Red currently has two hotels in Brussels and Minneapolis. Four others are set to open in Campinas, Glasgow, Miami, Portland and in Cape Town, South Africa, which opens its doors in September this year. And now the group has set eyes on Nairobi, a city that has in recent years become one of the main technology hubs in Africa.

Seamless integration

A paradigm shift in the past decade has led to a rise in a unique entrepreneurial lot comprising programmers, writers and artists of all sorts, creating a revolution that is reaching all corners of the world through a seamless integration of technology in day-to-day functions.

A liberal media has also exposed the growing population to cultures beyond the borders, inspiring new tastes in music, fashion and career paths, with platforms as the bi-monthly Blankets and Wine concerts serving as the sampling grounds for these new mixes of cultures.

Radisson Red, in its Nairobi venture, will be working to tap into this previously unexploited market.

“We are eyeing one or two opportunities in Nairobi for Radisson Red and as at now we are looking for the right partners to set up the brand,” said McLachlan.

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